Splash guard for sink tops



Nov. 2, 1954 R. D. CHURCH 2,592,991

SPLASH GUARD FOR SINK TOPS 7 Filed March 3, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet l 4 72' -5- Z0 I 4- /4 j INVENT OR ATTORNEY Unit SPLASH GUARD FUR SHJK TOPS Application March 3, 1954, Serial No. 413,763

7 Claims. ((31. 4-487) This invention relates to a novel splash guard for covering a sink top beneath the faucet or faucets, and which is primarily adapted as a shield for a conventional sink top cover formed of linoleum or other type of composition material or rubber, for protecting the covering from deterioration.

Another object of the invention is to provide a splash guard or shield which may be employed to cover sink top coverings which have been deteriorated by the dripping of water from the sink faucet or faucets to thereby eliminate the necessity of completely replacing sink top coverings, as would otherwise be required to prevent rotting of the sink top.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a splash guard or shield of extremely simple construction which may be quickly and easily applied over the rear part of a sink top without requiring any dismantling of the sink top, its covering or the faucet, and which may be readily adjusted to sink tops of different sizes.

Still a further object of the invention is to provide a splash guard or shield formed of adjustably connected sections including a novel means for sealing the sections to prevent leakage of water therebetween.

Various other objects and advantages of the invention will hereinafter become more fully apparent from the following description of the drawings, illustrating preferred embodiments thereof, and wherein:

Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view taken through a sink showing the splash guard in an applied position;

Figure 2 is a horizontal sectional view taken substantially along a plane as indicated by the line 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view taken substantially along a plane as indicated by the line 3-3 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a longitudinal sectional view taken substantially along a plane as indicated by the lines 44 of Figures 2 and 3;

Figure 5 is an enlarged fragmentary transverse sectional view taken substantially along a plane as indicated by the line 5-5 of Figure 2;

Figure 6 is an enlarged exploded longitudinal sectional view of an end portion of the splash guard, taken substantially along a plane as indicated by the line 66 of Figure 2;

Figure 7 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken substantially along a plane as indicated by the line 7-7 of Figure 1;

Figure 8 is a fragmentary top plan view of a slightly modified form of the splash guard, and

Figure 9 is a sectional view thereof taken substantially along a plane as indicated by the line 99 of Figure 8.

Referring more specifically to the drawings and first with reference to Figures 1 to 7 thereof, for the purpose of illustrating the application and use of the splash guard or protector, designated generally 10 and comprising the invention, a portion of a conventional sink 11 is illustrated, together with a portion of a conventional sink top, designated generally 12. The sink top portion 12 includes a horizontal rear portion 13 and an upright rear wall 14 which extends upwardly from the rear edge of the portion 13. The front edge of the sink top portion 13 is shown as being provided with a recess 15 in the top part thereof to receive the outturned back portion 16 of the sink rim. The upper surface of the horizontal sink top portion 13 and the front surface of the upright portion 14 are shown covered with a sink top covering tes Patent Q 2,692,991 Patented Nov. 2, 1954 17 which may be of any material conventionally employed for this purpose such as linoleum or other composition material or rubber. The front edge of the covering 17 which is disposed over the rim of the sink 11 is provided with a beading strip 18 of a conventional type formed of metal and which engages over and under said front edge. Water is supplied to the sink 11 by any suitable form of conventional faucet 19 the supply pipe or pipes 20 of which extend from the faucet through the upright wall 14. The parts 11 to 20 constitute no part of the present invention but are merely intended to illustrate one conventional sink and sink top construction, and include only the parts thereof with which the splash guard 10 is associated.

The linoleum 17 beneath the faucet 19 and in fact across the entire back of the sink 11 is frequently in a wet condition due to leakage from the faucet and the splashing of water from the sink. This causes deterioration and rotting of the covering 17 so that water leaks therethrough and thereafter rots the sink top portions 13 and 14. The splash guard or protector 10 may be applied to the sink top 12 over a portion of the covering 17" to prevent this damage thereto or may be applied after the covering 17 has been thus damaged and in the latter case will make it unnecessary to replace the entire covering 17, as would otherwise be necessary or expedient.

T he splash guard or protector 10 is formed of a front section 21 and a rear section 22, which sections may be formed of various suitable water or moisture resistant materials such as a plastic material or a rust and corrosion resistant sheet metal.

The rear section 22 is bent longitudinally to provide a front portion 23 which is disposed at substantially a right angle to an upwardly extending rear portion 24 thereof. The front portion 23 has downwardly and inwardly turned back ends 25, as seen in Figures 4 and 6. Said turned back ends 25 form inwardly opening end grooves or channels 26 in which the ends 27 of the front section 21 are slidably received. Said ends 27 are beveled on their upper sides to conformably fit slidably in the guide grooves 26.

The upright rear part 24 of the rear splash guard section 22 terminates below the pipe 20 and faucet 19 and is disposed against a portion of the covering 17 which covers the front surface of the upright rear wall 14 and may be detachably secured thereto in any suitable manner such as by fastenings 28, as illustrated in Figure 1, which may constitute thumbtacks or small screws, or by means of a bonding medium or adhesive 29, as seen in Figures 3 and 7 which may be applied at spaced points or spots for securing the upright part 24 against the covering 17.

The rear part of the front section 21 underlies the front part of the horizontal portion 23 of the rear section 22, as seen in Figures 3 and 4, and the rear edge of said front section 21 is beveled on its underside and flared upwardly to provide a raised edge 30, which extends from end-toend of the front section 21 and which engages against the underside of the rear section portion 23. Likewise, the forward edge of the portion 23 is beveled on its upper side and turned downwardly to provide a depending front edge 31 which likewise extends from end-to-end of the section 22 and bears against the upper side of the front section 21. The edges 30 and 31 effectively function to prevent leakage through the splash guard 10 between the sections 21 and 22 thereof.

The front section 21 has a downwardly extending thickened front edge 32 which is adapted to bear against the front edge of the beading 18 and which extends to the bottom surface of said beading. A plurality of relatively thin metal strips, forming clips 33 are secured in any suitable manner as by means of fastenings 34 against the bottom edge of the front portion 32 and extend rearwardly therefrom. Preferably, a clip 33 is provided at each end of the front portion 32 and one or more intermediate clips 33 are also preferably provided. The clips 33 are forced rearwardly between the sink rim 16 and the bottom of the heading 18 for anchoring the front edge of the front section 21 of the assembled splash guard 10, after which the rear section 22 is slid rearwardly to an extended position relatively to the anchored front section 21, until its upright portion 24 engages against the covering 17 of the wall 14, after which the portion 24 is secured against said covering portion 17 by either the means 28 or 29, as previously described. This constitutes the complete procedure in applying the splash guard or protector and it will be noted that no tools are required to accomplish this operation with the possible exception of a tool for applying the fastenings 28. It will also be apparent that no part of the sink assembly needs to be removed, so that the splash guard 10 may be easily applied within the matter of a few minutes. The splash guard 10 is of sulficiently stifl and rigid construction and there is a sufiiciently tight fitting engagement between the sections 21 and 22 thereof to prevent casual movement of the sections relatively to one another and to maintain the sections in tight engagement with the portion of the sink top covering 17 over which the splash guard is disposed.

As illustrated in Figures 8 and 9, the splash guard may also be utilized Where the supply pipe 28a for the faucet or faucets extends upwardly through the horizontal sink top portion 13. For such application, a transverse notch 35 is cut in the front section 21a and opens outwardly of the back edge 30a thereof and a notch 36 is cut transversely into the rear section portion 23a and opens outwardly of the front edge 31a thereof. The notches 35 and 36 are cut to proper measurements depending upon the location of the supply pipe a and so that the closed ends of the notches will fit snugly around the pipe, as illustrated in Figures 8 and 9.

For the purpose of clarity, the thickness of the parts have been exaggerated in the drawings including the thickness of the clips 33, which clips will be formed of metal of a thickness only sufficient so that the clips will be substantially rigid. Accordingly, the space between the sink rim 16 and the bottom of the heading 18 has been exaggerated in the drawings due to exaggeration ofthe thickness of the parts 33. This likewise applies to the thickness of the sections 21 and 22 including the turned back portions thereof which are relatively thin so that the end portions of the section 21 which are not in engagement with the guide grooves 26 will contact the covering 1'7 of the sink top part 13. Obviously, the splash guard 10 may be made in various lengths to cover the entire length of the back portion of the sink if desired or the entire length of the back portion of a double sink.

Various modifications and changes are contemplated and may obviously be resorted to, without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as hereinafter defined by the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A splash guard of the character described comprising a pair of elongated sections including a front section and a rear section each formed of a sheet of waterproof material, said rear section including a front bottom portion and a rear substantially upright portion rising at substantially a right angle from said bottom portion, said portions of the rear section each extending from end-to-eud thereof, said bottom portion having downwardly and inwardly turned back ends forming inwardly opening grooves, a rear portion of said front section slidably engaging under a part of the front portion of said rear section and having end portions slidably fitting in said grooves, said front section and the front portion of said rear section being adapted to be disposed over and covering a horizontal rear part of a sink top, said upright portion of the rear section being adapted to be disposed against a rear wall of the sink top.

2. A splash guard as in claim 1, and anchoring means securing said upright portion of the rear section to the rear Wall of the sink top.

3. A splash guard as in claim 2, said front portion of the rear section having a forward edge extending from end-to-end thereof from which the forward portion of the front section projects forwardly and away from the rear section, said front section having a depending forward edge extending from end-to-end thereof adapted to be disposed against a portion of an edge of an opening of a sink top cover which surrounds the sink.

4. A splash guard as in claim 3, and a plurality of relatively thin clips secured to a bottom edge of said depending front edge of the front section and extending rearwardly therefrom and adapted to engage between said edge portion of the sink top covering and a rim portion of the sink for detachably anchoring said front section to the sink and sink top covering.

5. A splash guard as in claim 1, said front portion of the rear section having a downturned forward edge bearing, against a portion of the upper surface of the front section, and said front section having an upturned rear edge bearing against the underside of the front portion of said rear section and extending from end-to-end of the front section.

6. A splash guard as in claim 1, said splash guard being adapted to be disposed beneath a faucet of the sink and the upright portion of said rear section terminating below the conduit supply means of the faucet.

7. A splash guard as in claim 1, said splash guard being adapted to be disposed beneath a sink faucet, said front section having a transverse notch opening outwardly of a rear edge thereof, the front portion of said rear section having a transverse notch opening outwardly of a forward edge thereof and aligning with the notch of said front section to form an opening adapted to surround the faucet supply conduit extending upwardly through the horizontal rear portion of the sink top.

No references cited. 

